Life style and (preventive) health; personal characteristics, 2014-2021

Table explanation

Description topics

Smoking behaviour, 12 years or older

Questions on smoking behaviour are asked to persons aged 12 years or older.

Smoking status

Smokers

The percentage of persons in the population aged 12 years or older who answered ‘Yes’ to the question: ‘Do you ever smoke?’
From 2014 to 2017, the introductory text for this question was: ‘Now some questions about smoking.’ From 2018 to 2019 this text was changed in: ‘Now some questions about smoking. We mean smoking of all kinds of tobacco products here, but not the use of an electronic cigarette.’ From 2020 this introduction text was replaced by ‘Now some questions about smoking. We mean smoking of all kinds of tobacco products here, but not the use of an electronic cigarette or a device in which tobacco is heated (heat stick, heat-not-burn), such as the IQOS’.

Former smokers

The percentage of persons in the population aged 12 years or older who answered No to the question: Do you ever smoke? and Yes to the question: Have you ever smoked?

Smokers

Daily smokers in the population

The percentage of persons in the population aged 12 years or older who answered Yes’ to the question ‘Do you smoke every day?

Daily smokers among smokers

The percentage of smokers aged 12 years or older who answered Yes to the question Do you smoke every day?

Heavy smokers in the population

The percentage of persons in the population aged 12 years or older who smoke 20 or more cigarettes per day. Persons who only smoke cigars and/or pipe are not considered to be heavy smokers.

Heavy smokers among smokers

The percentage of smokers aged 12 years or older who smoke 20 or more cigarettes per day. Persons who only smoke cigars and/or pipe are not considered to be heavy smokers.

Cigarette smokers

Cigarette smokers

The percentage of persons in the population aged 12 years or older that answered Yes to the question Do you ever smoke cigarettes from a pack and/or do you roll them yourself?

Cigarettes per day per smoker

Number of cigarettes per day per cigarette smoker aged 12 years or older.

Smoking years current cigarette smokers

Number of years that a current cigarette smoker of 12 years or older already has smoked.

Quitting attempts in the past 12 months

The percentage of the cigarette smokers aged 12 years or older who tried to stop smoking in the last 12 months, and succeeded for at least 24 hours.

Former cigarette smokers

Smoking years former cigarette smokers

Number of years that a former cigarette smoker aged 12 years or older has smoked cigarettes.

Quitting years former cigarette smokers

Number of years since former cigarette smokers aged 12 years or older quitted smoking cigarettes.

Passive smoking among non-smokers

Passive smoking is the inhalation of tobacco smoke from nearby smokers while being indoors. The table shows the distribution of answers to the question among people who do not smoke themselves: ‘How often do you (or: does your child) get exposed indoor to tobacco smoke from other people?’

Passive smoking 2015-2018, non-smokers

Passive smoking is the inhalation of tobacco smoke from nearby smokers while being indoors. The table shows the distribution of answers to the question among people who do not smoke themselves: ‘How often do you (or: does your child) get exposed indoor to tobacco smoke from other people?’
(Almost) never
Less than 1 hour per day
1 hour per day or more
Because the answer options changed in 2019, these data will not published anymore.

(Almost) never

Less than 1 hour per day

1 hour per day or more

Passive smoking among non-smokers

Passive smoking is the inhalation of tobacco smoke from nearby smokers while being indoors. The table shows the distribution of answers to the question among people who do not smoke themselves: ‘How often do you (or: does your child) get exposed indoor to tobacco smoke from other people?’ From 2019 onwards, the answer options were replaced by ‘Never or almost never’, ‘Less than once a week’, ‘Once a week but not every week’, ‘Daily, less than 1 hour a day’ and ‘Daily, one hour or more a day’. These data are not comparable to the data of 2015-2018.

(Almost) never

Percentage of people with answer category ‘never of almost never’ to the question: ‘How often do you (or: does your child) get exposed indoor to tobacco smoke from other people?’.

Not daily

Percentage of people with answer category ‘less than once a week’ or ‘Once a week but not every day’ to the question: ‘How often do you (or: does your child) get exposed indoor to tobacco smoke from other people?’.

Daily, less than one hour

Percentage of people with answer category ‘Daily, less than 1 hour a day’ to the question: ‘How often do you (or: does your child) get exposed indoor to tobacco smoke from other people?’.

Daily, one hour or more

Percentage of people with answer category ‘Daily, 1 hour or more a day’ to the question: ‘How often do you (or: does your child) get exposed indoor to tobacco smoke from other people?’.